Payoneer

Update: November 18, 2012. Freelancer.com has acquired vworker.com and now Western Union Option is no more available (Vworker offered Western Union). Neither Odesk, Elance or Freelancer offers Western Union Withdrawal method.

Update: January 03, 2011: VWorker has also added skrill (moneybookers) as a new payment method for countries where Paypal is not supported.

Since Paypal is not available in Pakistan, you can withdraw money from your Odesk and VWorker accounts using the following withdrawal methods.

Skrill (Formerly Moneybookers):

Odesk: Simply sign up at moneybookers and then go to your odesk > Wallet > Payment Methods , here you have an option to sign up for skrill (formerly moneybookers) and the other option is “Already registered with Moneybookers? Click here.”, choose the later option as you will be already signed up by now. Remember to use the same email id that you use with your odesk account. For this method you are charged $1 per withdrawal.(Additional currency exchange and commercial fees charged by Moneybookers.)

Vworker: To setup skrill (moneybookers) in vworker, login to your vworker account and then go to My Account > My registration/Settings >My Pay Option and then choose Skrill and click next. The minimum amount you can withdraw is 3$ while vworker.com withdrawal fee is 2$.

By now you have added your moneybookers account as your withdrawal method, question is how to withdraw money from moneybookers, well for this you need to verify your address and then verify your bank account. To verify your bank account you will need the swift code, you can get the swift code by calling your bank for example swift code of Bank Alfalah Abbottabad is ALFHPKKA068.

In moneybookers account go to My Account > My Profile > LIST OF BANK ACCOUNTS and click manage to add your bank account. The last time I withdrew money from moneybookers to my bank account I received the payment on 5th day. I withdrew the amount on 30th July and the amount was credited to my bank account on August 04.

Wire Transfer (PKR)

Using this method you can withdraw money from odesk directly into your bank account. For this you will need the swift code again. To add this method go to your odesk > Payment > Payment Methods (Old Navigation) and click “Setup Wire Account”, you will be then asked for Swift Code, add swift code and click go. Now add your account number, branch name and address and account holder information. (Please make sure that you enter your name exactly as it appears on your bank account. Name mismatches can lead to delayed or failed payments.)

$4.99 per withdrawal in PKR.

Highly competitive exchange rates.

Direct transfer. No need to deal with 3rd party-payment providers.

First withdrawal is FREE!

Payoneer Debit Card

You can get an account and card by signing up through any of the payoneer partners (odesk/vworker.) Once you sign up a card will be sent to you within 28 business days. The activation process is an easy 2 step process.

2) The process is complete once you receive your first payment from a partner. (Odesk/Vworker)

Pakistan, along with a few other countries (Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe) was listed by the US government as carrying an increased level of risk and having strategic Anti Money Laundering (AML) deficiencies. Payoneer still offers its services in Pakistan (unlike many other payment providers) and to comply with the new regulations Payoneer requires a copy of your government photo ID.(Please use the same ID that you provided during the registration process.) However, offering this special service requires them to adjust some of their fees, to cover their cost of addressing the increased level of risk. Thats why the enhanced service to Pakistan and few other countries incurs an activation fee of $24.95 that will be charged as soon as funds are loaded to the new card.

Once you have activated your Payoneer Card, there will also be a Monthly Maintenance Fee of 3$. Payoneer Card is a debit card and can be used at ATMs, at stores and online.

On vworker.com minimum withdrawal amount is 50$ while odesk withdrawal to Payoneer is 20$

Western Union

I dont personally recommend this method as this is very costly. This method is available in vworker.com. When you withdraw money using this method you are charged $10.00 Processing and/or postage fee by vworker.com. After that Western Union”s sending/conversion fee will also be deducted from the amount.

To claim your Western Union payment, you will need to go to your nearest Western Union office (see www.WesternUnion.com for locations) and give them the following information: